Tronox Assists Basic Academy Robotics with Donation

Tronox, a manufacturing plant in Henderson, recently donated $5,000 to benefit students in the robotics club at Basic Academy of International Studies.

The donation assisted the program by providing students with an extracurricular activity that will brighten their futures. Due to the generous donation and community support that Tronox provides, Basic Robotics Club now has back-to-back state championship wins in robotics to add to its list of achievements.

After 70 qualification matches last weekend, Basic’s Z team was undefeated and remained as the top seed going into the finals. The Basic Z team partnered with Basic’s A team and a team from Clark High School to crush every other opponent in the tournament. Basic’s Z team went 14-0, defeating top-ranked Cimarron High School in multiple matches, which is an unprecedented accomplishment at a state-level tournament.

Basic Robotics Club will now begin to prepare for the U.S. Open Robotics Championship that takes place early April in Iowa, as well as the VEX Robotics World Championship (High School Division) in Kentucky in late April. The team is currently fundraising to meet the costs for their travel expenses to the U.S. Open and VEX World Championships.

“It heartens me to see these students competing in national robotics competitions. I saw a need to drive STEM programs and thankfully was able to assist with that need,” said Rick Stater, Henderson plant manager at Tronox. “We are proud to help the programs succeed, and we enjoy being an integral part of these learning opportunities.”

To donate to the Basic Robotics program, please contact Mark Reed at mlreed@interact.ccsd.net.